Entrepreneurship offers you a lot of freedom and liberty. You can hire your own employees and work with the type of people you want to work with. There are some great advantages....
Read moreVideo: Lydia Hakizimana talks about the effects of corruption on the human spirit
Source: Poverty Cure | Published on September 19, 2013
Lydie Hakizimana of Rwanda describes the effects of corruption on the human spirit. The problem of corruption extends beyond dollars and cents. It crushes the entrepreneurial spirit of a people.
Read moreVideo: Lydia Hakizimana talks about her reading project to inspire the children of Rwanda
Source: US AID | Published on February 8, 2013
Lydia Hakizimana talks about a children's reading programme and competition she launched in Rwanda to inspire children to get more excited about reading.
Read moreAfrican women in tech: Ethel Cofie on why men are seen as ambitious and women bitchy
Ethel Cofie, founder of Edel Technology Consulting (Ghana)
Source: MeMeBurn | by Mich Atagana | 13 October 2014
Where are the women in tech? Who are the women building technology or working in technology in Africa? These questions and many more are asked on a daily basis. When it comes to technology in Africa, the general consensus is that women are not present. We beg to differ.
Read moreQuote of the Day
Dr. Ola Orekunrin, founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria
"Eighty percent of the world trauma occurs in low-middle income countries just like Nigeria...I feel there should be more focus on the trauma epidemic that Africa currently faces."
- Dr. Ola Orekunrin is a medical doctor, helicopter pilot and the healthcare entrepreneur founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s first Air Ambulance Service. She's dedicated to bringing trauma care to the most remote parts of Western Africa and her company, an air ambulance service based in Lagos, is doing just that. She was motivated to start the company after her younger sister tragically died whilst traveling in Nigeria as a consequence of their being no medical air service available to transport her to hospital. Ola graduated as a medical doctor from the University Of York in the UK and is a member of the American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine.
Read moreAnne Githuku-Shongwe named an African Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the World Economic Forum on Africa
Source: World Economic Forum | October 5, 2013
Anne Githuku-Shongwe has been named among five social entrepreneurs as African Social Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2013 World Economic Forum on Africa, taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. The awards were conferred by Hilde Schwab, Chairperson and Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in the presence of President Jacob G. Zuma, Donald Kaberuka, Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma, David A. Lipton, and Naveen Jindal.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Anne Githuku-Shongwe: Your content must be locally relevant
What’s the secret to your company's success in tapping the youth market in Africa? ....
"You need to make a combination of on the one hand creating locally relevant content that delivers a message, but also make it fun and attractive. If you make a game that’s boring, you’re dead in the water. We also co-designed the games with the youth users themselves through community based Design Labs to ensure that the games are relevant for the local market."
- Anne Githuku-Shongwe is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Afroes Transformational Games - a company that builds mobile game-based learning platforms out of South Africa and Kenya. Anne's vision is to revolutionise learning in Africa with a focus on delivering positive Africa-focused mobile phone entertainment to the youth market across the continent.
Read moreEssential Read: 'Stiletto Network: Inside the Women's Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business' by Pamela Ryckman
Pamela Ryckman, author of 'Stiletto Network'
The face of global business is changing, although still rather too slowly, and today more women are running and starting up major companies than ever before. These women are at the forefront of a movement that recognizes the power of networking and collaboration to make opportunities and change happen. Stiletto Network shines the spotlight on the power of savvy, ambitious, intelligent women in business, industry and politics to mine their collective intelligence in order to realize their dreams or champion a cause.
Read moreVideo: Dr. Ola Orekunrin shares her views on the Ebola crisis
Source: Diamond Women | Published on October 10, 2014
Diamond Women selected Dr. Ola Orekunrin as the Diamond Woman of the month for October. Dr. Ola Orekunrin is the founder of The Flying Doctors Nigeria, a leading air ambulance service in Nigeria. Here she discusses among other things her views on the latest Ebola crisis impacting West Africa.
Read moreUshahidi launches app to help users check in on loved ones
Entrepreneur Advice from Nkemdilim Begho: It takes lots of belief and willpower to get ahead as an entrepreneur
What does it take to make it as a female IT entrepreneur?....
"It takes a lot of will power. In anything you want to do, you must know what you want. I knew what I wanted to do.You need to want anything that you want to do in life. When you want it, it will happen, if you don’t really want it, it won’t happen. Most times I didn’t have any money and people just offered me jobs. They would say just come and take this job, but those were the days I needed to decide what I wanted. I asked myself if I wanted to build a brand or be an employee."
- Nkemdilim Begho is founder and Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited, an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security. As one of a few Nigerian women in the industry, her success is founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology space.
Read moreNkem Begho: Women Also Do Well in IT
Source: allAFRICA.com | published 2 June 2014
Nkem Uwaje-Begho the managing Director of Future Software Resources is one of the leading female Information Technology entrepreneurs in Nigeria. This inspiring woman, with a humble, unassuming disposition is greatly contributing to advancing information technology in Nigeria. She originally studied Bio-informatics in Germany and began her professional career in Germany where she worked on high profile research projects for leading firms. She returned to Nigeria in 2008 and founded Future Software, now a leading IT services company. AllAfrica's Senior Reporter Anthonia Soyingberecently had a chat with her and she opened up on the many opportunities in Information Technology (IT) for women....
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Nkemdilim Begho: Don't worry about competition from the big players - there's room for everyone
How do you cope with competition from the big players in the industry?....
"I always say there is a market share for everybody no matter how big or small you are. There are always people who need your services and will patronize you. All you need do is be at the right place. So, for me, it’s not a question of the big competition out there, though I must admit that I lost some jobs but I also win a lot of jobs. At the end of the day, it all boils down to building a brand, a reputation, and figuring out how I can stand out from the crowd. My unique selling point."
- Nkemdilim Begho is founder and Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited, an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security. As one of a few Nigerian women in the industry, her success is founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology space.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Nkemdilim Begho: Starting up lean and small is the way to go
Starting up lean and small is the way to go....
"I went for a slim and lean way of working. I tried to make it as small as possible and all I had to do was build a website and then created a business card."
Nkemdilim Begho is founder and Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited, an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security. As one of a few Nigerian women in the industry, her success is founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology space.
Read moreMoney cow: The economy-boosting bovine
Dr. Victoria Kisyombe, founder of SELFINA (Tanzania)
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (CNN) -- Starting a business is never easy, but in Tanzania, the obstacles for women can be particularly fierce. Few women hold land titles, and as a result, many don't have the necessary collateral to secure funding from a bank. Dr. Victoria Kisyombe has set out to change that. She runs SELFINA, a micro-credit institution focused on female entrepreneurs. In addition to lending, SELFINA loans women equipment to start up their businesses
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Tara Fela-Durotoye: My top advice to any aspiring entrepreneur - Stay true to yourself
This is the most important advice I always give out ....
"Stay true to yourself, stay true to what you are trying to achieve, otherwise you get distracted. Side comments, how people think you should do things, and I think that everyone wants to hear their own voice so you need to stay true to yourself. Before you come out of your house you have to decide, yes this is what I want to do. You still need counsel but you should be able to apply counsel to your own decision to be able to take insightful steps."
- Tara Fela-Durotoye is a Nigerian-born lawyer turned Africa's leading beauty and makeup entrepreneur. She started House of Tara at the age of 20, from her living room, whilst an undergraduate at university back in 1998. She's since gone on to launch Nigeria's first ever bridal directory in 1999, and in 2004 she opened the country's leading beauty academy. Today, Tara has over 3,000 reps spread across Nigeria and 14 stores to her name and she is steadfastly dedicated to realising her vision of building a globally respected beauty company of African origin. Tara remains an inspirational role-model and mentor to make-up artists and aspiring beauty business owners across Africa.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Tara Fela-Durotoye: Build an enduring business that has spin-off benefits for other entrepreneurs
You can build an enduring business that has spin-off benefits for other entrepreneurs....
"For us at House of Tara .... Creating a business that impacts and generates income, developing micro entrepreneurs who will grow their business and employ more people so as to make the Nigerian economy better is what's most important."
- Tara Fela-Durotoye is a Nigerian-born lawyer turned Africa's leading beauty and makeup entrepreneur. She started House of Tara at the age of 20, from her living room, whilst an undergraduate at university back in 1998. She's since gone on to launch Nigeria's first ever bridal directory in 1999, and in 2004 she opened the country's leading beauty academy. Today, Tara has over 3,000 reps spread across Nigeria and 14 stores to her name and she is steadfastly dedicated to realising her vision of building a globally respected beauty company of African origin. Tara remains an inspirational role-model and mentor to make-up artists and aspiring beauty business owners across Africa.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Juliana Rotich: Stay lean when you start-up
Act and stay lean for as long as possible when you start-up....
"Ushahidi ran a lean team of distributed members all over the world ... We often say as long as you are good and awesome, we don’t care where you live”
- Juliana Rotich is a Technologist, MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, TED Senior Fellow and currently serves as Chair of World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Data Driven Development. She is co-founder and Executive Director of Ushahidi Inc, a non-profit tech company, born in Africa, which specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, interactive mapping and data curation. Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. She leads a team that is expanding its global footprint and making crowdsourcing tools available and useful, and catalyzing entrepreneurial initiatives like iHub in Kenya. She also serves on the advisory council of Microsoft 4Afrika and Waabeh Ltd. In 2011 The World Economic Forum named Juliana 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year'.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Juliana Rotich: Smart advice on scaling a tech product
Scaling your business is often a burning question for technologists. Just how can you expand your technology and products to more countries around the world?....
“For us the biggest lesson in scaling was translation ... It was important to make sure the product was available in a language that people could connect to.”
- Juliana Rotich is a Technologist, MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, TED Senior Fellow and currently serves as Chair of World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Data Driven Development. She is co-founder and Executive Director of Ushahidi Inc, a non-profit tech company, born in Africa, which specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, interactive mapping and data curation. Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. She leads a team that is expanding its global footprint and making crowdsourcing tools available and useful, and catalyzing entrepreneurial initiatives like iHub in Kenya. She also serves on the advisory council of Microsoft 4Afrika and Waabeh Ltd. In 2011 The World Economic Forum named Juliana 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year'.
Read moreDorcas Muthoni - The startup story of this leading Kenyan techpreneur
This leading Kenyan entrepreneur, computer scientist and inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame founded her tech company at the age of 24.
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